
07/26/2025
In 1962, Charles Bronson appeared in the western series "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeter" alongside the then only twelve-year-old Kurt Russell. One day Kurt found out it was Bronson's birthday and gifted him a model airplane with a gasoline engine. Bronson quietly accepted the gift, turned around and left. The crew calmed Kurt down as they felt his disappointment. Later the assistant director approached Kurt and told him Bronson wanted to meet him in his dressing room. Knocked Kurt on nerves. Bronson opened the door, looked down — not at him — and quietly said, “Nobody’s ever gotten me a birthday present.” “This moment forged a close connection. When Kurt's birthday came, Bronson surprised him with two skateboards, and the two flashed together across the studio premises. After the studio manager Kurt had urged him to stop doing that, Bronson led her into his office and announced, "Kurt and I will ride our skateboards across the premises." "Then they left - without arguing, without further questions. From this day forward no one meddled.
Bronson's reaction was rooted in a difficult childhood in a poor Pennsylvania mining town, where he was one of fifteen children. After losing his father early, he worked in the coal mines before serving in World War II. His life was characterized by silence, struggle, and resilience – qualities that, though tenderly, emerged in his relationship with a boy named Kurt.